Johannes Bredenburg (1643–1691) was a Rotterdam wine merchant and weaver who was a member of the

Collegiant In Christian history, the Collegiants (; ), also called Collegians, were an association, founded in 1619 among the Arminians and Anabaptists in Holland. They were so called because of their colleges (meetings) held the first Sunday of each month, ...

s. The philosopher

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

had joined the Collegiants and his ideas became the source of a division in the membership so that they broke into two parties. The Spinozist party was led by Bredenburg and the opponents by

Frans Kuyper Frans Kuyper (; 1629, Amsterdam – 21 October 1691, Rotterdam) was a Dutch Socinian writer and printer. Life First a Remonstrant minister at Vlaardingen, he left the church on his objection to infant baptism. From 1663–1673 he opened a publis ...

. These two parties were reunited on the death of their leaders. Bredenberg is known for having written a rebuttal of Spinoza in 1675. His rebuttal apparently explained Spinoza's philosophy so clearly that others accused him of disseminating Spinozism. In the end, he was dissatisfied by his own rebuttal, refuted it, and came to adopt Spinoza's ideas.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bredenburg, Johannes 1643 births 1691 deaths Wine merchants Dutch merchants 17th-century Dutch philosophers Businesspeople from Rotterdam Writers from Rotterdam